Announcing the Community Beam Emoticon Contest!

From :mappa to :127 to :pizza, the Beam community loves to express themselves with emoticons. Starting today, we’re giving YOU the chance to create an emoticon to be added to our global emoticon library! Here’s how it works:

Create an emoticon and email it to us at emoticon@beam.pro with the subject line “Emoticon Contest Submission” by January 19th. The Beam staff will pick our favorite three emoticons and put them to a public vote on the January 20th #LevelUp cast, and the winning emoticon will be added to the site! We’ll work with the winner to name the command, too. All three artists with emoticons chosen for the public vote will also receive a one year Beam Pro subscription.

Requirements

Emoticons should be in either SVG or PNG format and be non-animated with a transparent background.

If PNG:

At least 24x24 pixels

If SVG:

File size no larger than 50 kb

Not compressed or minified

We also ask that the emoticons you create be free of the following:

Hate speech, racism, or derogatory words

Sexual content and nudity

Drugs or drug paraphernalia

Violations of any third-party property or privacy rights, such as copyrights or trademarks

Realistic weapons and/or guns

Extreme violence or gore

We’re looking forward to seeing all your amazing emoticon submissions, both now and in future contests! You can find the full rules from our legal eagles below. GLHF!

2. DEFINITIONS
In these Rules, "Microsoft", "we", "our", and "us" refer to Sponsor and “you” and "yourself" refers to a Contest participant, or the parent/legal guardian of any minor Contest entrant. By entering you (your parent/legal guardian if you are a minor) agree to be bound by these Rules.

3. ENTRY PERIOD
The entry period for the Contest starts at 12:01 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on December 16, 2016, and ends at 12:00 p.m. PT on January 19, 2017 (“Entry Period”).

4. ELIGIBILITY
To enter, you must be 14 years of age or older. Minors must have consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Employees and directors of Microsoft Corporation and its subsidiaries, affiliates, and advertising agencies are not eligible, nor are persons involved in the execution or administration of this promotion, or the family members of each the above (parents, children, siblings, spouse/domestic partners, or individuals residing in the same household). Void in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria and where prohibited.

5. HOW TO ENTER
To create an entry, contestants may use any digital image editing program to create and submit a non-animated SVG file, or a PNG file, of at least 24x24 resolution and that adheres to the eligible entry guidelines.

To submit an entry, send an email with the image to emoticon@beam.pro with the subject line “Emoticon Contest Submission.”

The entry limit is one per person overall. If you submit more than one entry, we will deem your first entry as your entry and ignore the remaining.

We are not responsible for excess, lost, late, or incomplete entries. If disputed, entries will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address, social media account, or other method used to enter.

6. ELIGIBLE ENTRY
To be eligible, an entry must meet the following content/technical requirements:

Technical

SVG or PNG format and be non-animated with a transparent background

If PNG:

At least 24x24 pixels

If SVG:

File size no larger than 50kb

Not compressed or minified

In addition:

Content – cannot contain:

Hate speech, racism, or derogatory words

Sexual content or nudity

Drugs or drug paraphernalia

Violations of any third-party property or privacy rights, such as copyrights or trademarks

Realistic weapons and/or guns

Extreme violence or gore

In addition:

Your entry must be your own original work; and

Your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other contest; and

You must have obtained any and all consents, approvals, or licenses required for you to submit your entry; and

To the extent that entry requires the submission of user-generated content such as software, photos, videos, music, artwork, essays, etc., entrants warrant that their entry is their original work, has not been copied from others without permission or apparent rights, and does not violate the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other rights of any other person or entity. You may include Microsoft trademarks, logos, and designs, for which Microsoft grants you a limited license to use for the sole purposes of submitting an entry into this Contest; and

Your entry may NOT contain, as determined by us in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that is obscene or offensive, violent, defamatory, disparaging or illegal, or that promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco or a particular political agenda, or that communicates messages that may reflect negatively on the goodwill of Microsoft.

Your entry must be received by the deadline of 12:00 p.m. on January 19, 2017.

7. USE OF ENTRIES By submitting an entry, you grant us and any of our sub-licensees an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to, in any media whatsoever now known or later invented, for any of Microsoft’s or a third party’s non-commercial or commercial purpose, and without further permission from you:

(a) use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, review, assess, test, analyze, market, and commercialize your entry and all its content in connection with this Contest and

(b) otherwise use, market, and commercialize your entry and all its content, including, but not limited to, the marketing, sale, promotion, or provision of Microsoft products or services.
Entrants who submit winning entries may be required to sign a separate license agreement or assignment agreement as a condition of winning prize(s).

You will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these Rules.

By entering you acknowledge that the we may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your entry and you waive any claims resulting from any similarities to your entry. Further you understand that we will not restrict work assignments of representatives who have had access to your entry and you agree that use of information in our representatives’ unaided memories in the development or deployment of our products or services does not create liability for us under this agreement or copyright or trade secret law.

Your entry may be posted on a public website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. We are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.

8. PRIZES
The following prizes will be awarded:

One (1) Grand Prize
The emoticon that wins the popular vote during the voting period will have the opportunity to be added to the site, and the entrant who submitted that emoticon will have the opportunity to suggest the command that will be used to display the emoticon, all subject to Beam.pro staff approval.

Three (3) First Prizes. Each semi-finalist selected to go to public voting will receive:
A 12-month subscription of Beam Pro. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) $95.88.

The ARV of electronic prizes is subject to price fluctuations in the consumer marketplace based on, among other things, any gap in time between the date the ARV is estimated for purposes of these Rules and the date the prize is awarded or redeemed. We will determine the value of the prize to be the fair market value at the time of prize award.

The total Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of all prizes: $287.64

We will only award one (1) First Prize per person/company, and one (1) Grand Prize during the Entry Period. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. No substitution, transfer, or assignment of prize permitted, except that Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the offered prize is unavailable. Prizes will be sent no later than 28 days after winner selection. Prize winners may be required to complete and return a prize claim, a separate assignment or license agreement, a separate indemnification/liability release, a separate media release, an affidavit of eligibility, and / or tax forms (“Forms”) within the deadline stated in the winner notification. Taxes on the prize, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner, who is advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. By accepting a prize, you agree that Microsoft may use your entry, name, image and hometown online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this Contest without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.

9. WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION
Pending confirmation of eligibility, potential prize winners will be selected by the Beam.pro community judging panel from among all eligible entries received based on the following judging criteria:

Originality – 25%

Composition – 25%

Suitability – 50%

1) The Beam community judging panel selects 3 submissions to be put to a public vote, each entrant of which will be awarded a First Prize.

2) Between 12:01 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) and 1:00 p.m. PT on January 20, 2017 during a #LevelUp Cast (“Public Voting Period”), viewers will be asked to vote for an entry by logging into their Beam.pro account and voting in the built-in poll shown above the chat pane. Only users with a Beam.pro account are eligible to vote. Votes will be limited to one vote per person. Votes determined to be in excess of this limit will be thrown out.

3) At the conclusion of the Public Voting Period, we will determine one winner, based on total votes received. In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, the tie will be broken by the judges, who will judge the tied entries based on the criteria listed above.

4) We, in our sole discretion, reserve the right to void suspect ratings or take other remedial actions if we suspect any use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or similar methods, known or unknown, to impact the integrity of the public rating result, including offering prizes or other inducements in exchange for votes, automated programs or fraudulent i.d’s. Microsoft will void any questionable votes.

All three (3) submissions selected for public vote will receive the First Prize. The winner of the public vote will also receive the Grand Prize.

The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of Contest Prizes described above.

Winners will be notified via the contact information provided during entry no more than 7 days following the drawing with prize claim instructions, including submission deadlines and any additional Forms required. If a selected winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize or fails to return any Forms, the selected winner will forfeit their prize and an alternate winner will be selected time allowing. If you are a potential winner and you are 14 or older, but are considered a minor in your place of legal residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required Forms on your behalf.

10. GENERAL CONDITIONS AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY
To the extent allowed by law, by entering you agree to release, indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Microsoft and its respective parents, partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities -(including, but not limited to, violation of intellectual property rights) arising out of or relating to this Contest or any prize won (including, but not limited to, a participant’s creation of submission, an entry of a submission, acceptance/use/misuse of a prize, exploitation of a prize, or use of a submission as authorized or licensed hereunder).

All local laws apply. The decisions of Microsoft are final and binding.

We reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this Contest for any reason, including cheating, technology failure, catastrophe, war or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that affects the integrity of this Contest, whether human or mechanical. If the integrity of the Contest cannot be restored, we may select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Contest. Rules violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and may be banned from participation in this Microsoft Contest or other sponsored Microsoft promotions.

11. GOVERNING LAW
This Contest will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington for any disputes arising out of this Contest.

12. WINNERS LIST
Send email to emoticon@beam.pro with the subject line “Beam.Pro Emoticon Contest winners” within 30 days of January 20, 2017 to receive a list of winners that received a prize worth $25.00 or more.